The mineable resource in 1.0

[simpleton876]

Hey Everybody,

Long time lurker, first time poster here; been playing & loving KSP for about a year now. Not sure if this possibility has been covered already or if I'm posting in the right area - so advance apologies if so.

I was watching a video about Mercury on YouTube just now - Crash Course's

- and the guy mentioned deep 'holes' at Mercury's poles that I though must have been the inspiration for the Moholes. He says the parts of these holes that are in constant shadow get cold enough to allow water ice from comet impacts, etc to stick around. That led me to think, 'hey, water ice in the moholes'. Then to think that 'hey, good old H20 is a perfect universal resource'. H20, can be broken into Hydrogen which can be used for fuel, and oxygen for the oxidizer and/or breathable air (possible usage in Life Support!). It's so simple; I don't think its much of a stretch of the imagination to find a resource like that all over the Kerbol System.

Now, granted, I'm pretty sure breaking H20 into its component elements is a rather inefficient proposition IRL, and I don't know for sure if Kerbals breath Oxygen. For that matter I'm not sure any of these 'Real Life' elements - or their properties - exist in the KSP universe. Still, it was such a revelation I thought I had to share it. What do yall think?

-Simpleton

Edited April 19, 2015 by simpleton876
grammar; clarity

[Jovus]

Personally, I think it's a great idea just to replace the word 'ore' with the word 'water' and go at it. After all, H2 and O2 are already rocket fuel, and that's what ore is for, right?

However, I don't think it's likely that SQUAD will make the change, and I can't blame them; going this route would be a tacit admission that LiquidFuel = liquid hydrogen, and that'd open up a whole can of worms they quite reasonably don't want to deal with. (I like the idea of realistic fuels, but I can't blame SQUAD in the least for not wanting to deal with mimicking realistic ISPs, fuel ratios and densities, and storage solutions.)

[magnemoe]

Personally, I think it's a great idea just to replace the word 'ore' with the word 'water' and go at it. After all, H2 and O2 are already rocket fuel, and that's what ore is for, right?

However, I don't think it's likely that SQUAD will make the change, and I can't blame them; going this route would be a tacit admission that LiquidFuel = liquid hydrogen, and that'd open up a whole can of worms they quite reasonably don't want to deal with. (I like the idea of realistic fuels, but I can't blame SQUAD in the least for not wanting to deal with mimicking realistic ISPs, fuel ratios and densities, and storage solutions.)

Density of rocket fuel points towards RP1 not H2. Locations also don't indicates water / ice.

However as I understand the resource system will be easy modable so it should not be so hard to combine with real fuels and resources. You get water at poles and in the outer solar system.

Moon regolite contains oxygen however its harder to extract than cracking water, asteroids at least the larger one contains some water, they also contains other stuff.

[basic.syntax]

I recall some comments that Squad have other ideas for uses for "ore." Thinking of it as water may not work in the long run. The "other uses" might appear in later versions of KSP, but for 1.0, "ore" will just be processed into the various fuel types.

[Jovus]

Density of rocket fuel points towards RP1 not H2. Locations also don't indicates water / ice.

Thank you for this perfect illustration of my point.

[rabidninjawombat]

Density of rocket fuel points towards RP1 not H2. Locations also don't indicates water / ice.

However as I understand the resource system will be easy modable so it should not be so hard to combine with real fuels and resources. You get water at poles and in the outer solar system.

Moon regolite contains oxygen however its harder to extract than cracking water, asteroids at least the larger one contains some water, they also contains other stuff.

As the resource system is made by Roverdude, (probably based upon regolith) I have no doubt it will be very easily moddable. I believe he has said as much himself.

[Hotblack Desiato]

Personally, I think it's a great idea just to replace the word 'ore' with the word 'water' and go at it. After all, H2 and O2 are already rocket fuel, and that's what ore is for, right?

However, I don't think it's likely that SQUAD will make the change, and I can't blame them; going this route would be a tacit admission that LiquidFuel = liquid hydrogen, and that'd open up a whole can of worms they quite reasonably don't want to deal with. (I like the idea of realistic fuels, but I can't blame SQUAD in the least for not wanting to deal with mimicking realistic ISPs, fuel ratios and densities, and storage solutions.)

there is another thing that should be taken in account: the resource "Ore" is already in use in modded ksp. and it's not used for fuel-production.

water/ice on the other hand would be a very nice way to get water and fuel, and it would blend into the current situation in modded ksp, and it would even correct the current situation with water/lqdwater and water/aquifer (KSPI and regolith).

as a side-effect, liquid fuel was never specified. therefor in modded ksp, both real-world liquid fuels apply: carbon hydrogens and hydrogen alone.

if squad defines water as base resource for getting LF/O, then LF is set to H2.

[Vanamonde]

This suggestion for the game's development has been moved to Suggestions and Development Discussion.

[Brotoro]

Personally, I think it's a great idea just to replace the word 'ore' with the word 'water' and go at it. After all, H2 and O2 are already rocket fuel, and that's what ore is for, right?

That wouldn't explain how 'ore' can give you Xenon (assuming such alchemy is allowed in the new resource system).

[Wahgineer]

That wouldn't explain how 'ore' can give you Xenon (assuming such alchemy is allowed in the new resource system).

Why are people against mining Xenon? It's not like we couldn't just find trace amounts in the ore, right? besides, considering how efficient ion engines are, you probably won't have to mine for xenon too often.

[Brotoro]

Why are people against mining Xenon? It's not like we couldn't just find trace amounts in the ore, right? besides, considering how efficient ion engines are, you probably won't have to mine for xenon too often.

Who's against mining Xenon? You should be able to pull it out of an atmosphere...and there could be some trapped in ice. But, as you say, you'd have to process a HUGE amount of material to get a little Xenon. What would be goofy is if you could take a kilogram of ore and make a kilogram of Xenon out of it.

[panzer1b]

Personally i really dont care what its called, water, ore, minerals, gold, whatever. Its still going to work the same exact way as before, and i dont believe its all that hard to change the name of a resource if you absolutely insist upon it.

While not something i have any worries about, i actually think its nice for squad to not use any particular names, one it removes any responsibilities to make the resources have x density, and lets them pick whatever values work best for gameplay.

[simpleton876]

What a heated discussion I have started! I was mostly just wondering out loud if I had just had one of those 'OMG, I've got it! It's so simple!' revelations. Clearly, its not lol. Great input from everyone though

Oh and welcome to the forum Simpleton.